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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Music City Triathalon 7/28/13

Music City Triathalon, 7/28/13 Miles Traveled, 1.32 Total 131.6
Beautiful blue skies, maybe up to 80degrees, average speed .5 mph

We entered water about 7:00 and got out about 11:00
My 'first' triathlon and I finished! Haha! We were water support and after the experience, I can really see the need for water support. There were two courses. The first group (green caps) of swimmers swam . I think that I saw more in this group that needed support. Some of them even seemed disoriented like they couldn't tell or see where they were going. One woman asked if she was going in the right direction, another asked if she was last although I could see many other swimmers behind her. The second group of white capped swimmers swam . Several people held onto my kayak (and Scotty's) just for a rest. One young man I remember said his leg had been cramping up for awhile. Maybe the water was cold? I told him I'd follow him for awhile and he ended up holding on once again. After he left, I motioned to the nearby Stand Up Paddler to watch him. The kayakers and SUPer's that were there were a nice group of people and we all seemed to work together well. Many of us said we'd be back next year.
Although ALL of the athletes were amazing, there were several that stood up to me. I saw a pair of men swimming side by side touching as they went by. I wondered why when they had the whole river. Scotty had seen them enter at the beginning and it turns out that one of the men was blind! I saw a young girl with half an arm. I had seen her earlier in the morning so I was glad I got to see her swim. When walking around earlier, I had seen a few men with prosthetic legs. I tried to see them swim, but must have missed them. I will say that I felt like I needed to always be on alert. At times, many swimmers would swim past my kayak and I wanted to be available if needed. Then a minute would go by with very few swimmers. It was just amazing to see them swimming in the downtown section of the Cumberland River. I was so glad I volunteered. Oh - and I got a triathalon t-shirt. So should I just wear it and let people think I actually did it???